Wade Waits
Wade was born to a teenage couple, two refugees who met in the stacks. His father, who goes unnamed, was shot to death when Wade was only a few months of age. He was allegedly shot and killed while looting a grocery store during a power outage. His mother, Loretta, held two full-time positions within the OASIS. She worked as a telemarketer by day, and as a virtual escort by night. It is explained by Wade, that Loretta used the OASIS to babysit him during these work hours; he would play interactive games and learn fundamental skills within the virtual world, beginning his infatuation with technology at a young age. When Wade was around 11 years old, Loretta died due to her drug addiction. She "shot a bad batch of something into her arm," and Wade found her, listening to music on a MP3 player. After her death, he is forced to live with his aunt Alice, her often abusive boyfriends, and others who rent rooms in his aunt's double-wide trailer. Wade states that she doesn't actually take care of him; the only reason his aunt agreed to take him in was to receive additional food vouchers. He spends very little time in her trailer; he only sleeps and eats there when he must. Most of Wade's waking hours are spent in his secret hideout. After Wade completed Halliday's Hunt, he became one of the richest people in the world and also gained abilities of Anorak in OASIS world (that included unlimited hit points and cyberpotence). The Egg After the announcement of James Halliday's Easter Egg Hunt, Wade is one of millions of people all over the world who eschew "normal" life to become full-time gunters (short for "Egg Hunters"), OASIS users who are obsessed with learning everything about James Halliday and his history to discover the easter egg and earn his fortune. The Egg Hunt consists of locating three keys placed in different places throughout the many worlds of the OASIS to unlock three matching gates. After locating all three keys and gates, one must be tested for their worthiness of Halliday's fortune. Only then will one reach The End, where their prize awaits. As indicated by Anorak's Almanac, knowledge of 1980's pop culture was critical to locating the keys scattered throughout the OASIS. Wade, among many others, immersed himself in countless television shows, video games, science fiction novels, comic books, and more. Over the years, Wade amassed a mental and digital collection of thousands of items relevant to the Egg Hunt. This included digital versions of coin operated video games such as Galaga, Defender, Asteroids, Robotron: 2084, sitcoms like Family Ties, comics including complete editions of The Amazing Spider-Man, The X-Men, Green Lantern, and much more. Over the course of five years, Wade and millions of other OASIS users comb countless worlds of the OASIS simulation for any lead to where the Copper Key might be. Their only leads were the original poem given in the Almanac, and The Limerick discerned from marked entries in the Almanac. Assassination attempt During the course of the Halliday's Easter Egg Hunt, IOI attempted a blackmail and assassinate Wade by planting explosives in his aunt's stack in a way that made it appear as if a drug lab had exploded in a huge accident. However, Wade was not killed because he was in his hideout at the time. In an attempt to stay hidden from IOI, Wade Watts assumed the alias of Bryce Lynch, a 22-year old male with an immaculate credit rating and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. He was able to do this via connections he made with hackers on the OASIS. He also assumes a position at a tech help desk to help pay the bills and fund his research. Indentured Servitude After facing the problem of the Orb of Osuvox near the end of the story, Wade decides to infiltrate IOI as an indentured servant. By modifying his aliases financial status to being indebted to IOI for tens of thousand dollars, Wade successfully manipulates the IOI into abducting and forcing him to work off his debt. He is given a help-desk position much like his old job, but without the freedoms of being able to watch movies or anything else on the job. Using tools he acquired from hackers he had contacted when creating his alias, He was able to hack the IOI database and download nearly ten zettabytes of information relevant to The Hunt onto a flash drive. He also requisitioned a figurative time bomb to be delivered and detonated inside the shield at a later date in order to take it down. Once he had successfully done this, he transferred enough money back into his account to pay off his debt, allowing him to slip passed the security. Once he escaped, he resumed his original identity as Wade Owen Watts and removed all records of existence for Bryce Lynch. Winning the competition After Wade completed Halliday's Hunt, he became one of the richest people in the world and also gained the abilities of Anorak in the OASIS world (including unlimited hit points and cyberpotence). Category:Beats KAMITRON Category:Characters Category:Ready Player One